Someone once said that “Christianity is not a religion but a way of life”. I presume this statement was born out of, for example, what happened in Acts 11:26 when, as a result of the characters and attitudes which the disciples of Jesus Christ exhibited and displayed in Antioch, to the extent that the people around them who had at one time or the other met with or experienced Jesus Christ concluded that, indeed these people (the disciples) were like Christ or Christ-like; which today is called Christian. However, to me, Christianity is a religion, but it is more of a lifestyle. It is not only about what we believe, it is more of what we do at the same time. Every Christian must therefore make conscious effort in God’s strength to walk the talk. We should not be hearers only, but doers of the word of God as well (James 1:22).
Today, the topic for our teaching sermon is PRACTICAL CHRISTIAN LIVING, and it is all about putting to practice what we believe and subscribe to as Christians; not saying one thing and doing another. This topic however aims at sensitizing us as Christians to think, to talk and to live the Word of God (The Bible); and to exemplify Christ in our daily living.
Mahatma Gandhi’s statement, ‘I love your Christ, but I hate your Christians; they are so unlike Him,’ expresses the disconnect between what Christians believe and what most of them do. To Gandhi, anyone who claims to be a Christian must, in the face of any circumstance or situation, put himself or herself in the position of Jesus Christ, to do what He would do, say what He would say etc. In other words, what qualifies anyone to be called a Christian is that such person thinks, talks, lives and does everything just like Christ.
Practical Christian living is all encompassing. It has to do with our entire life – our marriage, our sexual life, what we eat, what we drink, what we wear, what we say, the jokes we crack, the movies we watch, where we go, our relationship with others around us, our reaction when we offend people and when we are offended, our attitude when it comes to money, our priority with everything which the Lord has given us, things that matter to us etc. According to James 2:10, it is not enough to be morally upright in just one area of our lives and be found wanting in another; God expects us to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect (Matt. 5:48).
Obviously, in just one lecture, there is no way we can fully treat and exhaust everything which we need to know when it comes to looking at the practical aspect of our lives as Christians, but we shall endeavor to look at six (6) major areas which affect everyone of us: Our attitude to forgiveness (Gen. 45:1-15; Matt. 6:14-15); our relationship with our neighbors –sacrificial love (Matt. 25: 31-46, Rom. 12: 9-21, ); our marriage and sexual life (Rom. 12: 1-2, 1 Cor. 6:18-20, cf. James 4:7); the use of our mouth (Matt. 15:11, Prov. 18:21, 12:18, Matt. 12: 36); our attitude to money matters (1 Tim. 6:10, Acts 5:1-11); and principally, our attitude to God and things of God (Deut. 8:18, Rev 19:6, AMNS 95:1,3, AMNS 197:1).
A Christian life is a disciplined life (Dan.1:8-16), a fearless life (Dan.3:16-18), a loyal life (Job 2:9-10), an obedient life (Luke 5:4-5), a selfless life (Esther 4:16), and a humble life that accepts correction (2 Sam. 12).
The Bible is the central source for discerning how a Christian is called to be in the world. There is one major way of understanding the way the Christian character is formed; it is by IMITATION. We read the stories in the New Testament and try to do what Jesus did. He is the pattern and the model for Christian life. This finds a modern manifestation in the evangelical question one is to ask when one is in a moral dilemma – ‘What would Jesus do?’ or ‘What would Jesus say?’ etc. However, Christians are not only to ‘imitate’ Christ, they also share in His life by being members of His body. So to be a Christian is to take on a whole new kind of life and to ‘die’ to an old pattern of living (2 Cor. 5:17).
To practically live a Christian life in this world of conflict, we must acknowledge the place of God’s grace in our lives and we must make conscious efforts to be disciplined (self-denial).
In conclusion, let us drive home our point with this interesting story of a preacher who was transferred to a local Church from a distant town. Some weeks after his arrival, he had an appointment that made him to board a bus to another part of the town. When he sat down, he discovered that the drive had mistakenly given him his balance in excess of 50 naira. As he considered what to do, he though within him, ‘You’d better give this money back. It would be wrong to keep it’.
Then another thought came, ‘Oh, forget it, it’s only 50 naira; who would worry about this little amount, after all the bus company makes so much money fares; they will never miss it. Accept it as ‘a gift from God’ and keep quiet. However, when this preacher was alighting from the bus, he paused momentarily at the door, and then handed the 50 naira to the driver and said: ‘Take! The balance you gave me was over’. The driver with a smile, replied,’ ‘Are you the new preacher in town?’ ‘Yes I am’ he replied.’ ‘Well, I have been thinking a lot lately about where to go and worship. I just wanted to see what you would do if I give you balance in excess. I’ll worship with you at the Church this Sunday. When the preacher stepped off the bus, he grabbed a nearby pole, looking up and said, ‘Oh God, I almost sold Your son for 50 naira.’
Beloved, our lifestyles are the only Bible some people will ever read. This is just a subtle example of how much people watch us as Christians, and will put us to test! Always be on guard and remember that you carry the name of Christ on your forehead and shoulders once you call yourself a Christian.